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"If a CEO lied to investors and consumers as much as Farage, Johnson, and Michael Gove lied to UK voters, the consequences would be swift and painful, both from regulators and the market"
:)))))
Where? In an exoplanet near you!

May's coming to power awakens thoughts of principles that include the idea that Ministers of the Interior should never advance to ultimate leadership - something heavily ignored up to now. Johnson in an exposed position means easy deflection of public notice from other activities when needed. As well as keeping the ultra-conservatives at bay. Johnson, however obtuse, is anything but stupid and might well play well his part loyally when required. Even out of basic self-love.
As for holding business leaders to account, we know they are as imperfect as politicians.
We note that Iceland and Ireland have jailed bankers as a result of 2008, whereas other larger economies have picked on the odd trader or two far below leader level, with the odd fine here and there.(It's only money!).
What remains truly alarming is that the narrow gorge between Remainers and Leavers, spurred on by populist calumny, is touted so successfully as a clear and huge win for the latter. If we could accept that democracy includes the right to change one's mind on the part of voters, we could have introduced the French 2-phase voting system for referenda - which gives citizens a real chance at making up their minds.

In 'normal' politics politicians know that any lies they tell now will be held against them at the next election - they are (though they may not like it) playing a repeated game where reputation matters. In contrast the referendum was a one-shot game - the damage that lying does to the liar's reputation does not matter.

Democracy is democracy - the verdict must be respected - further deliberations to understand if it was an error based on lies, is fine.
But Brexit is Brexit - once the democratic process is completed, the unequivocal verdict becomes a command.
The narrative needs to pluck the chemistry from a past - beyond the 70 years since 1945, Europe's longest peace interlude.
Britain became Great despite Europe - the chemistry that built The Anglosphere for nearly 400 years before 1945.
The reasons why endless migration from Europe is destined towards The Anglosphere - belief in Britain's unique destiny.
The author gives the impression that Britain became Great DUE to Europe not DESPITE Europe.
The Little Islanders now unleashed from Brussels - have history on their side - to build a Greater Britain, than the past.

The voices in Brussels gloating at the misery in store for an Island that defies its dogmas - can unleash ClubMed unfettered.
France Italy Spain - with Turkey & Egypt - can recreate ClubMed, restore The Mediterranean to its glorious past.
The Mediterranean is in meltdown mode.
And needs all the sagacity that European Union can muster.
The Anglosphere can only wish them Good Luck.

You read my soul.
The "gloating" in Brussels defies the imagination.
Cannot think of any other Union "gloating" similarly.
Imagine the efforts garnered in London when Scotland wants to leave - not gloating.
Imagine the efforts garnered in Delhi when Kashmir wants to leave - not gloating.
Imagine the efforts garnered in Ottawa when Quebec wants to leave - not gloating.
Imagine the efforts garnered in Madrid when Catalonia wants to leave - not gloating.
Having voted Remain, I still believe the greater good was in prolonging the peace n prosperity in Europe beyond 70 years.
But Democracy is Democracy, Brexit is Brexit.
History is never learnt.
The Past is not dead. It is not even past.
Waterloo and Agincourt are never forgotten, lessons never learnt.
Britain always sagely safely securely ensconced inside The Anglosphere.
America Australia Canada India & The Commonwealth have paid dearly to build The Anglosphere.
And it is to The Anglosphere that gratitude must be granted.

Sometimes words need to be said.
Sometimes those words may be difficult for others to hear.
Sometimes those words are true.

Your words are all of those things.

It's true, much as I would rather the situation were different.

But Britain has survived DESPITE continental Europe which was solely responsible for TWO British-economy-wrecking world wars (WWI and WWII) and the follow-up to those, the Cold War.

Imagine all that Britain could've become by now, had it not had to wage and win two world wars in the 20th century.

Great Britain would've been equal in economic and military power with the United States, and humanity would have completely missed two world wars and the Cold War.

The Anglosphere would have held dominion over the Earth -- and let's hope they would've had enlightened and moderate leaders.

I posit that without the excesses of WWI, WWII and the Cold War, there would have been no need for some of the overcompensating behaviors by politicians that we saw in the second half of the 20th century and into the 21st century (the Iraq War, the Afghanistan war, terrorism, etc)

I'm saying that the excesses of two world wars and the Cold War thrust upon the world by the continental Europeans are 100% responsible for the creation of two classes of overcompensators on the planet; The neo-cons and the terrorists -- both of whom are engaged in a distinctly non-virtuous, symbiotic relationship that could still destroy all life on the planet. (Preemptive nuclear strikes and, minutes later, nuclear terrorist responses)

I think that scenario is a matter of IF, not WHEN -- unless we can overcome the three speedbumps in our civilizational development, recover, and 'get back on track' -- the track that we were originally on, until continental Europe changed history THREE times for the worse.

It could still be the end of us all.

But only if we let them.

Not that I wish the continental Europeans one second of harm, it's just that they've wreaked enough havoc for now.

It's time to put a politically-moderate Great Britain back together as it was and as it was intended to be all along and in tandem with a more politically-moderate United States (and without prejudice to any other country or bloc) recreate the Anglosphere as it was intended to be, prior to the three speedbumps placed by continental Europe in the path of humanity.

The time for war and overcompensating must now be over. Or humanity won't survive it.

Any nation that wishes to join the Anglosphere, need only pass legislation that English is one of their official languages and have a politically-moderate foreign policy, then I would consider them eligible to join The Commonwealth of Nations (the umbrella organization of the Anglosphere)

In that way, I would hope to (eventually) win over every nation. Yes, every one.

No more war. Peace and prosperity. Peace, Order, and Good Governance.

That was the path the Great Britain and other Anglo nations were on before we had three wars thrown at us by continental Europe. (WWI, WWII and the Cold War)

As bad as those wars were, the two (overcompensating) responses (the neo-con movement and the terrorist movement) may yet turn out to be even worse. THOSE TWO groups may ultimately spell the end of humankind.

And that's what I'm trying to prevent.

"You never change anything by fighting the existing reality. If you want to change something, build a better model that makes the old model obsolete." -- Buckminster Fuller

It turns out that the (overcompensating) model that we've been following since 1918 and even worse since 1945, is a case of "fighting the existing reality" -- I'd rather go back to the "better model that makes the [present postwar] model obsolete."

In North America, we have a saying, "If it isn't broke, don't fix it."

The venom of brexit is that what in Europe is the narrative of solely UKIP style 'parties', was shamelessly taken over by politicians from the 2 leading UK parties. And that they did not hold back on applying the same toolbox that UKIP did. And let him do their dirty work. Them talking on EU immigration and Ukip drumming the refugee card.. thereby soiling the whole UK political system. Frankly : Is there any statement that BJ can make as SFA with only a stiff of credibility?

Lucy, very good article coming from you, spot on. And I fully agree, the only one that showed some leadership was N Sturgeon whilst the others either abandoned ship or are still living in glory, glory days....

You can expect more of Dover all over the EU as Schengen failure continues providing another dampener on economic growth

The Roman Empire at its peak had between 70 and 100 million people and proved unmanageable. How much more difficult is it to manage a 500million population with different cultures, beliefs and lifestyles

You ascribe the chaos to politicans, I suggest part of the problem is a failure of administration and reporting of outcomes. This is amply displayed by the repeated security failure on the Mainland where basic information is not communicated

The introduction of Schengen without redressing the displaced border security need at the external borders is another

These are typical reorganisational failures often seen in large corporations just magnified to a larger process with much the same outcome, the removal of commonsense and freezing of capability to react

The only question then is can administration be restored. As new skills and structures are required the answer is at best some considerable time and you can if you want estimate the likely duration based on process intervals

Steve, N. Sturgeon is a politician, why should she be the exception? Look what has been happening in Dover only 24 hours of T. May’s visit to France. One better not imagine what will happen when all British citizens will require a visa to visit France & the EU after the Brexit. T. May believes only in “PP”, that is “Policing and Politics”, and these two on their own are a recipe for disaster. Regrettably, this generation of world leaders are very detached from realty and have decided to take us back to the 70s’ and 80s’, a disaster.

Steve, I had a feeling you would not like my comment on N. Sturgeon but with all fairness, after the titanic took the hit and all her crew abandoned her or turned against each other or running like headless chicken around the world pretending doing some work (sightseeing), N. Sturgeon is the only one still standing strait and exercising some sanity among this chaos at Whitehall.

Sorry M M but you are just measuring relative to the types of Gove and BJ. Sturgeon is claiming authority and infuence which is not hers, it is really no better than the Gove / BJ behaviour. In what way is that being a leader

An independent Scotland if it occurs will not be joining the EU any time soon. Sturgeon knows that so is just opportunistically posturing

I can't take any notice of anybody in Spain of all places chuntering on about the UK. The comment about Strugeon is wildly off the mark and clearly yhe writer does not understand either the weakness of the Scottish economy or the legal postion with Scotland. Scotland if ever indepenedent will not be allowed to apply to join the EU, any application will be vetoed by the country where the writer is based, Spain, to block any similar secession attempt by Catalonia

It is worth noting that after the the first ten minutes of trading the FTSE100 then rose to an 11 month high.
The pound has hit a 35 year low (not the lowest it has been during the UK membership of the EU) but has since reclaimed some of the ground.

The markets are not the place to look for validation of the right or wrong of Brexit. Markets lead their own lives. If FTSE goes up it is not because everyone got enjoyed with the prospects of Brexit. It is highly likely that it does so because brexit eradicated any likelyhood of interest rates going up. Something that was on the books before.

See also:

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Sooner or later, Trump's core supporters will wake up to this fact, so it is worth asking how far he might go to keep them on his side.

A Saudi prince has been revealed to be the buyer of Leonardo da Vinci's "Salvator Mundi," for which he spent $450.3 million. Had he given the money to the poor, as the subject of the painting instructed another rich man, he could have restored eyesight to nine million people, or enabled 13 million families to grow 50% more food.

While many people believe that technological progress and job destruction are accelerating dramatically, there is no evidence of either trend. In reality, total factor productivity, the best summary measure of the pace of technical change, has been stagnating since 2005 in the US and across the advanced-country world.

The Bollywood film Padmavati has inspired heated debate, hysterical threats of violence, and a ban in four states governed by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party – all before its release. The tolerance that once accompanied India’s remarkable diversity is wearing thin these days.

The Hungarian government has released the results of its "national consultation" on what it calls the "Soros Plan" to flood the country with Muslim migrants and refugees. But no such plan exists, only a taxpayer-funded propaganda campaign to help a corrupt administration deflect attention from its failure to fulfill Hungarians’ aspirations.

French President Emmanuel Macron wants European leaders to appoint a eurozone finance minister as a way to ensure the single currency's long-term viability. But would it work, and, more fundamentally, is it necessary?

The US decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel comes in defiance of overwhelming global opposition. The message is clear: the Trump administration is determined to dictate the Israeli version of peace with the Palestinians, rather than to mediate an equitable agreement between the two sides.